Security dominates in global software sales

Cyber security has emerged as the area that businesses have spent the most on in 2017, a new report claims.

According to ecommerce leader 2Checkout's First Half 2017 benchmark report on Digital Commerce Trends in Software & Online Services Sales, security and privacy products have accounted for over 30 per cent of online sales. This is perhaps unsurprising given the prevalence of high profile security breaches such as WannaCry, Petya, Goldeneye and Equifax in the news and public consciousness.

Following in second place with 23 per cent is multimedia and design software (which includes audio-visual tools, such as those produced by Adobe) and online services sit in third at 20 per cent. Other categories tracked in the report include utilities, marketing tools, web tools, office tools and development tools.

The Digital Commerce Benchmark has been based on a sample of hundreds of thousands of worldwide transactions moving through 2Checkout’s Avangate platform between August 2015 and July 2017.

Overall across the report there is a very prevalent trend towards subscription-based models. In 2012 only about half (49 per cent) of software sales were for subscription-based products and services, while in 2017 a substantial 75 per cent of sales so far have been subscriptions.

In addition, there has also been a notable drop in the global average order value (AOV) for software, SaaS and online services which is at $47, a small drop from $48 in 2016. This is partly attributed to the growth in subscription-based approaches. The report points out that the increased diversity of product popularity may suggest that consumers are beginning to shift toward more, smaller purchases of different types of items.

In terms of the global heat map of spending, the US continues to lead in sales of software, SaaS and online services, accounting for half of sales worldwide. The nation is followed distantly by the UK in second place. Germany now claims the third spot, pushing Canada from third to fifth place. Germany, France and Japan account for a bit more than one third of sales in non-English-speaking countries, with Italy, the Netherlands and Spain coming in close behind.

“The global software market continues to shift toward subscriptions and diversify in terms of the types of products people demand,” said Erich Litch, 2Checkout’s chief revenue officer. “As companies continue to expand into international markets, they need to be prepared to support a broad range of payment methods and business models, employ a variety of merchandising tools and sell through multiple channels and touchpoints.”